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Woman charged with animal cruelty

tethering cable had become imbedded in dog's neck

Melinda Baharona

Alyssa LaRenzie

Updated:
Nov. 3, 2013, 1 a.m.

A Forsyth County woman was arrested for animal cruelty after her dog was found on a tether with an embedded collar.

An animal control officer arrived to a Porter Lane home in northeast Forsyth on Wednesday to find a Jack Russell terrier mix tethered in the front yard, according to a Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office report.

“The cable was wrapped around the dog’s neck and was clipped back to itself,” the report states. “As I looked closer at the cable, I could see the clip attached to the cable but I could not see the cable around the dog’s neck. The cable was embedded into the dog’s skin and it appeared the skin was growing back over it.”

The dog’s ribs were showing, according to the report. It had a large plate of possible dinner leftovers and an empty bowl next to it.

Melinda Barahona, 48, was charged with one count of animal cruelty on Wednesday, but she has since bonded out of the Forsyth County Detention Center.

The report states several people lived in the house, including one who said she’d been caring for the dog for the last week “but never noticed the cable.”

Barahona said she hadn’t seen the dog in a week.

However, the sheriff’s office report states the dog’s injury took more than a week to progress to that level.

Sgt. Debra Frampton, animal control unit supervisor, said the dog was taken to a veterinarian, where it will likely have to be sedated to remove the collar.

Frampton added that in court, she expects a judge will be asked to prohibit Barahona from having animals.